A decision by the Dublin government on Wednesday to abstain in a key
vote on an emergency debate at the United Nations Human Rights Council
on the conflict in Gaza has provoked a crisis over Ireland’s managing of
its foreign affairs.

Senior republican politician Francis Mackey and two other members of the
32 County Sovereignty Movement were detained by authorities at a
Canadian airport this week and taken to a high-security prison.

The Stormont administration in Belfast has been accused of acting
irresponsibly after it was confirmed that a DUP Minister will not be
sanctioned despite the findings of an official report which supported
allegations that he deliberately deceived the Assembly.

The Dublin government has failed to condemn the latest massacre in Gaza
despite Israel intensifying operations against the sealed-off
Palestinian enclave, and has declined to even call in the Israeli
ambassador.

With no rising in sight in Ulster despite the signal coming from Dublin,
one man seized the initiative and assembled the United Irish forces to
assert Ireland’s right to independence. That man was Henry Joy
McCracken, who died 216 years ago this month.

Despite efforts this week to play down the threat of violence, fears
remain that loyalist hardliners will riot as a sectarian parade is
rerouted from the Crumlin Road in north Belfast this Saturday evening, July 12th.

British Direct Ruler Theresa Villiers has intervened to block a new
inquest into the deaths of eight IRA Volunteers and a civilian shot dead
by the SAS almost 30 years ago in a decision branded as “profoundly
wrong” by Six-County Attorney General John Larkin.

A reshuffle of the Dublin government’s Ministerial cabinet has brought
to an end to the influence of ‘Stickies’ in Irish politics and
introduced a number of new faces in an attempt to bolster the
coalition’s poll ratings.

The main unionist parties may be planning for serious disturbances in
north Belfast next weekend after the Parades Commission rerouted a
hugely contentious anti-Catholic march away from nationalist estates in
north Belfast.

The 26 County Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton has been
elected leader of the Labour Party to replace Eamon Gilmore, who
resigned last month. The change has also brought an end to the political
career of Labour’s Minister for Education, Ruairi Quinn, who resigned on
Wednesday, with other changes expected to be announced in coming days.